We made it here safely

Getting here to Utah went more smoothly than I expected. There were no line at the airport which was something we haven't experienced in a long time and we were very happy with that. We made our connection after some drama, but arrived in Las Vegas safe and sound. We picked up our minivan from Alamo (we got the only one with the dvd player, sweet!) and drove for 6 hours. The kids were not comfortable at all, especially Ty, but we pushed through. We normally wouldn't get to Provo this way, but to fly to Utah would have cost $1300 more.

The biggest glitch in the whole process is that Ella developed a fever on our first flight and has been miserable ever since. Poor Ella. We suspect it is from teething as she has no other symptoms.

You can't move to Tennessee and not buy a truck!

I know I said it would be Sunday before I could post again, but Andrew asked me to post these pictures before we leave. His brothers wanted to see his truck (Hi Stephen and David!). The first pic is what the truck looked like when we bought it. Andrew spent some time this week putting on a new grill and grill guard he bought off of ebay. Andrew has wanted a truck that looks likes this ever since he was a little kid. He said he'd better do it now before he gets too old and uncool to enjoy it. The truck is a 2003 Ford F150. Andrew isn't really a Ford guy, but we got such a good deal that we just couldn't turn it down. The best part is that it has six seat belts so our whole family can fit in safely. It's much roomier on the inside than it looks from the outside.

Enjoy!

Lawn Sledding

Here are some pics of the kids taken on the fourth of July at my Mom's house. With Gigi's (my mom) hill and a sled in the garage, it didn't take long for the kids to figure out that they probably didn't need snow. Things went a little faster though when we wet the lawn a bit. The kids had a great time.

We are heading to Utah tomorrow so there won't be another update until Sunday night at the earliest.

Lunchbox wars

Have you seen the commercial for Staples where the parents are taking their kids shopping for school supplies at their Back-to-School event? The parents are having a great time while the children are frowning all while the song "It's the most wonderful time of the year" is playing. I am that parent. It isn't just that I love getting my daytime routine back with Brianna and Arick gone (I do enjoy the lack of fighting), I also love the planning, the shopping, the anticipation of the unknown, etc.

School starts on August 1, although we will be missing the first few days for unky Dave's wedding, so I have been busy getting things ready. The kids have uniforms now, so the clothing shopping is very easy and inexpensive which I love. That leaves shoes, backpacks, and lunchboxes. I will have to get shoes in Utah since I can't seem to find what I like here. The kids have already chosen their backpacks, and today we picked up lunchboxes. The lunchboxes though were the most complicated out of the entire lot and were my favorite part of this whole preparatory process. So fun! Why? First, let me preface you with the lunchbox disaster of last year.

This past year Brianna had a cute, pink insulated backpack. I learned that cute and pink does not equal effective or efficient. So many times Brianna's lunch got squished, or because of the size/design, not everything would fit well. Arick's lunch box was less of a disaster but it too was more about the character on it than about doing its job well. Add to the fact that the kids began to hate the foods I put in their lunches and you can see things didn't go so well on this subject.

So this year I was going to win the lunchbox wars. To do this the lunchbox had to fit certain requirements. It had to fit our food containers with all lids facing up and it had to be hard to squish. The kids were a little sad that there would be no decorations on it, but I told them that we could gussy them up on our own and that seem to satify them. I also knew that I would need a new menu.

I began my search for the perfect lunchbox at the store and left with nothing, so then I turned to the Internet. That is when I discover 'bento' box lunches and I knew that I was on to something. The picture to the right is from a blog on bento box lunches called The Bento Corner. How could you not want to eat that? Hmmm, how could my kids not want to eat that? Lots of healthy foods disguised in cuteness, I am totally going to do this!

So as not to punish you with my poor writing skills, I am going to give you links to other sites that explain bentos better than I can. They also have incredible photos that will make your mouth water. Some of my favorite sites are

http://www.lunchinabox.net/

http://www.cookingcute.com/

Bentos also usually mean using special bento lunchboxes, but I can't afford the really cute ones right now. So I went to Target today and found Lock&Lock food containers that are pretty good for bento. I was also able to find lunchboxes that fit those containers and that are hard to squish. All for half the price so it will do. To the left is a pic of one of the cute sets on Ebay.

Brianna is especially thrilled because she won't have to stomach a pb&h sandwich again. Her top requests for her bento include: musubi, meatballs, noodles with dipping sauce, onigiri (kind of like rice balls with filling inside), seasoned rice, and veggies. Not your average kid, that one.

I bet you didn't think that someone could right this much about lunchboxe, did ya? I will end here but I am sure you will hear about it again. Maybe with photos of a few of the bento's I make around here.

All I can say is wow!

I have finished Harry Potter and all I can say is wow! The ending was so much better than I imagined it. Incredible.

Cory

I haven't had as much time to edit and post my shots from the 4th but here is one to keep you busy. This is my nephew, Cory. He is 8 years old and has such a sweet disposition. He loves animals, especially pandas. One of the things he loved most about his visit to Tennessee was going to the Memphis Zoo and seeing the pandas there.

A self portrait, of sorts

This is how my kids see me quite a bit lately! Maybe a little to much? Nah!

I am so excited!!

I can't believe that by tomorrow night I will have read the final Harry Potter! I am so excited!

11 months old

Oh my goodness! I can't believe that my baby is 11 months old now. The change in her this last month has been incredible, and part of me is really not liking it. Here is a list of the changes that Ella has gone through this last month:

• She uses sign language to ask for for milk and a diaper change.
• She has started to wave hello.
• She absolutely loves saying Uh-oh.
• She can say mama, dada and nana with some frequency and sometimes saying it to the right person.
• She can climb the entire stairs (I am not liking this at all).
• She loves to pull things off of the shelves.
• She loves to watch the Baby Einstein videos, it calms her down like nothing else.
• She is getting better at sleeping through the night.
• She can stand on her own for almost a minute now and has even attempted to take a first step.
• She loves to eat food and lots of it. There isn't one food we have given her that she won't eat. Her favorites? Mac and Cheese, Noodles, Spaghetti and Meatballs, sausage, melon, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, applesauce, carrots and more. I have never had a kid eat as well as she does.
• She will drink diluted juice from a bottle (she won't drink anything else from a bottle/sippy cup, and although I hate juice for kids, I am at my wits end)
• She has not graduated to 6-9 month clothing. She can still wear quite a few 3-6 month outfits. Apparently all of this food has done nothing for her waistline.

Amazing huh? This is one of my favorite stages in a little one's life, but with Ella being our last baby, it is slightly bittersweet. I am trying to enjoy her babyness all I can and wish that I could keep her little for longer. I am totally going to bawl on her birthday.

Yeah, we only own one home now!

Finally the house in CT has sold! No more double mortgage payments, yahoo! The offer was made on our home back in April but it was contingent on the sale of the buyer's home, that is why this has taken so long. Now that it is gone, I can look back with fond memories of our little house in the (big) woods. This house was perfect for what we needed when we needed it. It gave us a safe place to live, in a great town with good schools at price we could pretty much afford. We were very happy there. By the time we left we were a little crowded so the timing for our move to TN was perfect.

So to help celebrate the sale of our house, here are our top 5 things we loved about it:

1. It is the first home that we lived in that did not share walls/floors with another family. It took me months to learn to stop saying, "Kids be quiet or you'll bother the neighbors." Loved that.
2. It was the first place that we were able to paint the walls and make it our own.
3. This is the first home Ella ever knew.
4. The walking trails were wonderful. The kids loved it when their Dad would come home and announce that he was taking them on a walk. They had many fun adventures.
5. Andrew had lots of projects to keep him busy and use power tools.

Lastly, this area was a great place to live. I had the opportunity to make friends with so many wonderful people (Hello Barbara and Susi!) and my kids thrived there. A great time in our lives.

Sleepover

Because summer vacation is nearing an end, Brianna and Arick have been begging for a sleepover. I am not fond of sleepovers because one kid usually ends up complaining that the other won't let them go to sleep. However, their begging wore me down and I agreed that they could have on last sleepover. The kids told me today that they would like to have their sleepover tonight. I didn't think that was such a good idea since we don't have any new movies and treats. I then suggested that we have it on another night. The kids stood their ground and presented the following list as evidence that their sleepover would be a success. Andrew and I just about busted a gasket laughing as we read the list and we hope you will too. Please note that the list is exactly as they wrote it, including the bullet points!

Sleepover

• Talk


• Laugh


• Games


• Pillowfight


• Fort building


• Invent


• Gameboy


• Nintendo DS


• Draw


• Record beating


• Potty break


• Ticklefight


• 20 questions


• Gamecube


• Xbox


• TV


• Movies


• Jokes


• Who can stay up the longest


• Scary stories


• Shadow puppets


• Hide and go seek (in the dark)


• Hide and go seek


• Pollyville


• Dog game


• Raid the kitchen

Edited to add: Here is a photo that I snuck and took of them later in the evening. I totally surprised them.

Harry Potter Movie Night

This post is going to make me sound like such a nerd, but I have to share anyway. I am a huge Harry Potter fan. I have read all the books at least once and listened to each book on audiotape at least once. Which, if you haven't listened to the books on tape/cd, you must do so, it is an entirely different and wonderful experience. I have also seen each movie on opening night. I never take the kids, just myself or with friends, because I really want to relax and enjoy the movie. Sometimes I love the movie and sometimes I leave bugged that they didn't shoot my favorite scene(s). Last night I went to the fifth installment and I loved it. I went with three ladies from Church that I am becoming friends with. We had a great time and laughed tons, these ladies are funny! Well, we all agreed that it was one of the better ones, and I am so glad that they cut Harry's hair since the last movie.

And being the Harry Potter fan that I am, you can probably guess that I will be at the bookstore on Friday night (the 20th) waiting for the midnight release of the book. I have my 'ticket' and everything. I will be sure to take lots of photos. I am more excited about this release than the others because I need the closure, but I am a little sad it will be the last. I can't wait to see if any of my predictions were right. Breathe, breathe . . .

A great product

I recently came across a great new product that I think needs some more attention. It is the Clearplay DVD player. It is a DVD player that allows you to skip profanity, sex, and violence on regular dvds. I love this idea since one of my pet peeves are movies that are advertised for families that have profanity and such. Essentially you can make it a G, PG, or PG-13 rated movie. It does require a basic monthly membership (7.95 per month or $56 per year), but totally worth it. You can find out a lot more about it at www.clearplay.com and see demos on how it works.

Scrapbooking

I just thought I would share a layout I completed yesterday. Andrew bought me an 8 foot table so that I could do my crafts. I absolutely love it and it has inspired me to get back to my scrapbooking. I am horribly behind. It felt great and I love the fact that I don't have to clear the table so that my family can eat dinner. (Thanks sweetie!)

My brother, Marshall

This is a picture of my brother, Marshall, holding Ella. He is six years older than me so we weren't exactly close growing up. As kids, we pretty much existed to annoy each other. Heather and I loved to spy on him and he loved to pull pranks on us (many of which have become claasic stories that will be told by future generations). It was like this for years (sorry Mom!). Luckily, we have matured (for the most part) since then and we have a much better relationship. Marshall has grown up to be an incredible father, husband, and person in general, someone I truly respect and love.

Gazpacho- An old family favorite

The following recipe for Gazpacho has been used by my family for the last 30 years. It is my favorite soup in the summer because you serve it chilled. You can warm it up if you are one of those people who cannot eat soup cold.

4 Cups Clamato juice (do not be tempted to use a different juice it will not taste nearly as good)
1 medium sweet onion, minced
1/3 C olive oil
1/3 C apple cider vinegar
1/4 yellow or green pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 tomatoes, chopped
2 cucumbers with seeds removed and chopped
3 medium Hass avocadoes, cubed
Garlic Croutons
Grated Parmesan Cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste

Combine the first 8 ingredients and refrigerate overnight. Add the avocadoes before serving. Serve very cold with croutons and parmesan cheese. Serves 8.

note: I can never wait overnight, but it does get better after it sits a bit.

Family Home Evening Treasure Hunt

Tonight, as part of our family home evening, we will be having a treasure hunt. The kids are so excited and I am too. I can tell that this will be very popular.

I am using this treasure hunt that is found here. The clues are:

1. Roses are red,
   Violets are blue,
   To find clue 2
   Look in a shoe.
   
2. Wasn’t that fun?
   Are you ready for more?
   To find clue 3,
   Look behind a door.
   
3. Move right along
   As quick as a wink
   And find clue 4
   Hidden near a sink.
   
4. Getting tired?
   Don’t despair.
   Go find clue 5
   Beneath a chair.
   
5. You’re doing great
   Playing this game.
   Go find clue 6
   By a picture frame.
   
6. You’re almost through
   With your inspection.
   Go find a clue
   By your reflection.
   
7. The game is finished,
   So go ahead.
   You’ll find the treasure
   Beneath a ____

Best Cousins

These two had the best time together this last week. They were instant best friends as soon as they both learned that they are both Hannah Montana fans.

Momma, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys

I am totally digging this picture right now. Technically the shot isn't great, but the feeling that it catches is. Arick thought his new hat made him look cool and grown up and you can see that attitude in this picture. He does indeed look cool and much more grown up, sigh. We bought the hat today at the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was a fun place to visit and we all really enjoyed it.

P.S. I have tons and tons of pictures to add so keep looking here regularly.

The cousins

Let me introduce you to . . .

Let me introduce you to my brother, Taylor, and his wife, Teri, and their 3 kids. Steven is 16, Tiffany is 13, and Shannon is 8. Teri just finished treatment for breast cancer in March and that is why her hair is short. They live in Texas and I haven't seen them in 2 years. Now that we live only 12 hours apart by car hopefully we will get to see them more. Here is a neat fact. Taylor and I share the same birthday and are 14 years apart in age. They are staying at our home this week and we are having a great time. My other brother and his family are in town as well.

A bow in her hair

I am sorry that it took longer to get these pics up than I said. I had lots to do to get ready for my family's visit. Enjoy!

Cleaning has never been more fun

One of my favorite products in this world is audiobooks. I can read much faster than I can listen so I will always prefer reading over listening, but audiobooks definitely have a place in my life. This delightful medium has made long drives very pleasant. I have also been known to take the long way home or sit in the driveway for a long time so that I can listen more. I especially love that I am having fun and getting errands done at the same time. I have always thought that audiobooks would make my chores more fun as well.

For the most part, I have only listened to the Harry Potter series and Jane Austen, both of which are okay if little ears eavesdrop. The local library has a very good selection, however, I do find that over 50% of the copies I have borrowed have been damaged and that is incredibly annoying. Plus, I only allow myself to borrow one audiobook at a time because of my propensity to turn in everything past its due date (I have paid libraries much more than I would like to admit). Finally, I would buy my own but they are incredibly expensive and unless it is Harry Potter, it only gets listened to once.

I had resigned myself to listening to cds only in the car and not as frequently as I would like, until my recent visit to my local library's website changed all of that. On the website I learned that I can 'borrow' audiobooks online. They have a huge assortment, maybe not all the ones I would love to read, but plenty to keep me busy. Some of the books you can burn to a cd but mostly you either listen to the recordings on your computer or an mp3 player (iPods do not work with this service). Well I couldn't resist the idea that I could be mopping and listening to a great book, so I went and bought an inexpensive mp3 player. I downloaded my first book, Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns, which I am reading for my first book club (more on that another day). I finished it today and it worked wonderfully. Surprisingly my house is much cleaner than usual. I don't allow myself to sit down and listen, I have to be working and I didn't mind that one bit. The best part is that there are no late fines! I should do this while working out too, maybe a longer workout won't be so bad afterall?

The next books on my to listen are:
Archer's Quest by Linda Sue Park (one of my favorite ya fiction authors)
Sherlock Holmes Theatre
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Lost Colony (Artemis Fowl series) by Eoin Colfer

I have lots more to add to the list.

I do wish that I had a bought a more advanced mp3 player (more memory and the ability to do bookmarks) but this one will do fine for a long time. I can give this to Brianna when it is time to upgrade.

Interested in doing this yourself? Check your own local library's website, most have this option available. Pretty soon your house will be cleaner than usual too!

Oooooh

Ella has learned to point and say, "Oooooh!" She is starting to say Mama and Dada, but gets shy when you ask her to say it. I have also caught Ella standing without holding onto anything, which makes me think that walking will be sooner than I hoped. She gets so excited when she does it that she starts bouncing and falls on her tushy. It is very cute!

I finally figured out how to tame her hair. I found directions on how to make hair bows and I have been busy making them. They are turning out so cute, plus they cost so much less than ones you find at the store. I will try to post pictures tomorrow.

Brianna, Arick, and Ty are loving the summer break. I miss the peace and quiet. We have two sets of cousins coming to visit this week and they are so excited, and so am I. I haven't seen my brothers and their families for way too long and I can't wait to see how much the kids have all grown. Tomorrow will be spent cleaning and getting the house in tip top shape.